beginners guide to a rpg story

Beginner's Guide to Creating a RPG Story

NOTE: I know this has been done before, but I spent a long time making this.

Introduction
So, you want to make an RPG? First, you need a story. However, a story can be one of the hardest parts to make. This tutorial will take you through all the steps to create a decent RPG story from scratch.

Contents
1. Before You Start
2. Plot
3. Characters
4. Goals
5. Event Flow
6. Title
7. Other things

Before You Start...
You must get some idea about what the story will be. At this step you need to just think of the general, generic idea. Here are some examples...
- Hero goes to kill Evil King
- Hero travels through space
- Giant mushroom goes on a journey to find more tuna
See? Just come up with the bare-bones of the story. Now we can actually start...

The Plot
You absolutely HAVE to get this first. Why is your character doing what he/she is doing? (Hint: Try to avoid revenge as it is cliche and tends to get messy) And don't put a lot of detail into it. Here is some examples...
- Rick's sister is kidnapped by an evil king. Rick goes to rescue his sister.
Pretty basic, huh? But this is a good start. You can add more onto this later. Now here is an example of something wrong...
- Rick goes hunting one day. While he is gone, his sister, Sophia, is tending to her garden when the evil king Raul attacks the town. He kidnaps Sophia and lays the town to waste. Rick returns to the ruined town to find that Sophia is gone. He is filled with rage and runs after the evil king with hopes of rescuing her. Meanwhile, in a desert town...
See? Really complex. This is a full-blown story. We aren't there yet. (But, if you can manage to get this much this quickly, you're pretty talented.)

Anyway, now for the next step...

Characters
What are your characters like? Make sure you don't just describe the main hero. Describe the hero, the allies, important NPCs, and major enemies. Here is a template I like to use for describing characters...

Name<-- Pretty obvious, but make the name fit the character. Don't call some little guy "Killer".
Age: __<-- Again, obvious. It lets you know how the character may act in certain situations. Younger people usually are more rash and impulsive than older people.
Race: ___<-- List if they are human or some other type of race. Lots of games make their own races. So be creative.
Class: ___<-- This will tell what kind of skills and weapons they will use. Good classes would be like swordsman, mage, cleric, etc...
Bio: _________<-- Give details about the character's personality, connections to other characters, history of the character, etc...

It's also a good idea to make some type of picture to show what the character looks like. Just remember to do this for all important character. Now for the next step...

Goals
What is the hero trying to do? What is the Evil character trying to do? What is the annoying sidekick trying to do? This is where goals come in. They are usually simple one sentence things. Here are some examples...
- Main hero: Rick- Rescue his sister.
- Ally: Bob- Prove he can still fight despite his age.
- Evil guy: Evil King Raul- Sacrifice Sophia in order to open the gate of power and rule the galaxy.
- Important NPC: Sophia- Not be sacrificed.
Very simple. And from this you can come up with a good storyline. And some characters can have multiple goals. If they do, just list them all. Now for the next step...

Event Flow
Alright, this is where you finally get to plan out the flow of the RPG. Basically all you do is list the major events in order. Once you have the major events made, some smaller event ideas may (And most likely will) come to you and you can find places to fit them in. You can make an Event Flow in any organized way, but here is an example of how I did one for the example game...

Rick goes to hunt in the forest --> Town is attacked, Sophia is kidnapped --> Rick leaves town to go rescue Sophia --> Rick loses trail near ice town --> Rick enters ice town and meets Bob --> Bob asks Rick if he can help him destroy a beast --> Rick and Bob leave to go defeat beast --> Defeat beast --> Rick is told that Raul was headed towards a desert town-->... And so on and so forth...

So, this will give you an idea on how to go about making a game. Now for another step...

The Title
This can be a hard part of the game. There are a few rules that should be followed...
1. Make the title have some thing to do with the story.
2. Avoid using "Legend of", "Adventures of", and other things like that, as they are cliche.
3. Avoid using the words "Last", "Final", or "End" unless you don't plan on having a sequel.
And that is all. Here is the title I came up for the example game- "Gate of Power" (Remember, I spent 5 minutes thinking of this entire story. You will probably spend much longer.) Well, we are almost done. All that is left is fill in the...

Other Things
This includes...
- Town names
- Magic
- Side quests
- And anything else you can think of.
Town names can be hard. A good idea is to use real town names. Just don't use anything like New York. Use small town names. There is a town near my house called Yokina. That would be a good RPG town name.
Magic names are important only if the magic is used in the story. Come up with original names. Don't use stuff like Fire, Water, Ice... And DO NOT use magic spells widely used in the Final Fantasy series. Stuff like Ultima. It makes your game not seem as original.
Side quests can be thought of later. Basically just make them missions that you just get something good at the end. If it includes part of the main story, it in NOT a side quest.

Well, that is all I can think of to help you beginners out there with your story. I hope this helps someone.

FINAL NOTE: I apologize if this doesn't help anyone. I just really wanted to post this. And then I saw the other story tutorials. Anyway, that is all. Tell me what you think.

~ Final-Knight ~ RMRK

Title
a good story has a good title and therefore you need a title!
Story
The good title is useless without the story, try to develop these things at the same time!
Plot
the plot is usually built somewhere within the story, henceforth keep your story good!
Characters
If your story doesn't have characters it fails as an RPG, so keep it simple and have characters! main secondary, temporary etc.
Goals
Your plot and story must have a goal without it your game is useless
Event Flow
if your events aren't setup correctly your game will not work right and the story-line will probably just stop!
Other Things
This is very important, add extras,side quests , mini-games, and bonus features to your games or you might as well give up on a large fan base.


Now my tutorial is pretty simple and small but has a big point, EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT, STORY MOST OF ALL, no story no game!
thank you!